"Let it be one cheerful rational voice amidst the din of mourners and polemics." Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1840.
A Brit-in-Helsinki's blog about global politics, climbing, cycling, things that annoy me and other bits of life. But not necessarily in that order.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Winter tyre time is here again

Sunday night I admitted meteorological defeat and put the winter tyres on my bike - hopefully I won't fall off any more! The Schwalbe Marathon Winter tyres do work well on ice and hard packed snow but despite still being relatively narrow and not particularly knobbly, the studs do make them tediously slow. Cycling in to work yesterday it felt like I was pushing hard and I took the absolute shortest route, and it still took just over an hour - about 10 minutes more that my PB on summer tyres. I average around 25 kmph with the summer tyres on my commuting bike - Schwalbe Marathon Plus (superb tyres by the way, about 4000 kms ridden on them with no punctures and little wear) - but with the Marathon Winters on, my average speed is more like only 21 kmph.

I cycled home again late in the evening and was pretty knackered when I got back at a little before midnight. I reckon I'll try through the winter to keep cycling regularly but to do more just one-way trips and use the bus in the other direction.